In addition to special awards, the categories range from general production, to acting and design. The nominees range from Los Angeles premieres of New York hits like Silence! The Musical and Book of Mormon, to new productions of Cyrano and Heartbreak House.

Jitney (South Coast Repertory's production at The Pasadena Playhouse), Silence! The Musical (Hayworth Theatre), and Waiting for Godot (Center Theatre Group at Mark Taper Forum) lead the nominations with five nominations each. Close behind, garnering four nominations each, are Bad Apples (Circle X Theatre at Atwater Village Theatre), Cyrano (The Fountain Theatre and Deaf West Theatre), and The Treatment (The Theatre @ Boston Court in Collaboration with Theatre Movement.)

Other notable nominees include Tony Award winner Christopher Gatelli for Silence!, Tony Award winner Bill T. Jones for Fela!, Tony Award nominee David Ives for New Jerusalem, The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza at Talmud Torah Congregation, Amsterdam, July 27, 1656, and John Hurt for Krapp's Last Tape.

The 2012 LADCC special award recipients are:

The Ted Schmitt Award for the world premiere of an outstanding new play will be presented to Evelina Fernández for A Mexican Trilogy, whose world premiere took place at the awards venue, the Los Angeles Theatre Center

The Margaret Harford Award for sustained excellence in theater will be presented to Celebration Theatre. The Polly Warfield Award for an excellent season in a small to mid-size theatre will be presented to The Fountain Theatre.

The Bob Z Award for sustained achievement in set design will be presented to Stephen Gifford.

The Joel Hirschhorn Award for outstanding achievement in musical theatre will be presented to David O.

The Milton Katselas Award for career or special achievement in direction will be presented to Elina de Santos.

The individual nominees for the 2012 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards for theatrical excellence are as follows:

Direction
Michael Arabian, Waiting for Godot, Center Theatre Group at Mark Taper Forum
Shirley Jo Finney, In the Red and Brown Water, The Fountain Theatre
Christopher Gattelli, Silence! The Musical, Theater Mogul/Oskar Eiriksson and MagicSpace Entertainment at The Hayworth Theatre
Simon Levy, Cyrano, The Fountain Theatre and Deaf West Theatre at The Fountain Theatre
Kent Nicholson, How to Write a New Book for the Bible, South Coast Repertory
Ron OJ Parson, Jitney, South Coast Repertory's production at The Pasadena Playhouse
Elissa Weinzimmer, Tape, Identity Productions at ArtWorks Theatre and Theatre Asylum

Sound Design
Ben Williams, Gatz, Elevator Repair Service at REDCAT
John Zalewski, Macbeth, The Antaeus Company at Deaf West Theatre
John Zalewski, The Treatment, The Theatre @ Boston Court in Collaboration with Theatre Movement Bazaar at The Theatre @ Boston Court

CGI/Video
Anthony Beckman and Ben Rock, Stoneface, The Rise and Fall and Rise of Buster Keaton, Sacred Fools Theater Company at Sacred Fools Theater
Tei Blow, In Paris, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Dmitry Krymov Laboratory, The AG Foundation in association with the Korjaamo Culture Factory at The Broad Stage
Greg Sowizdrzal, The Pianist of Willesden Lane, The Geffen Playhouse and Hershey Felder at The Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater at Geffen Playhouse
Jason H. Thompson, No Good Deed, Furious Theatre Company at [Inside] the Ford